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Tuesday, 31 December 2013

I spent some time reading old posts last night to remind me what happened in 2013. It's amazing to read about the things you'd kinda forgotten you'd done! Here's a quick round up of my year.

The start of the year was a snowy one. My last winter in Money Pit Towers although at the time I didn't know that. The sale of the house was always hanging over me. In between lots of decorating and de cluttering I managed to complete my counselling course. I then decided after all that work I didn't want to become a counsellor as it was pulling me in a direction I didn't want. So the decision to return to teaching was made.

I also went on a corset making course which I loved. This is definitely something I will be developing in 2014.

I attended a few craft fairs with mixed success. Everyone loved my tartan stuff but no one was buying my larger pieces. I decided not to sell at fairs as the costs were more than any profits and set up a Facebook page for The Tartan Tower.

Thanks to The Great British Sewing Bee my sewing mojo was firmly in place and as well as sewing from scratch my refashioning habit took off big time.

I took in dresses that were too big, dyed jackets and blouses and turned dresses into tops. I made flower brooches from belts and even glued ribbons to shoes. Feeling brave I approached The Refashion Co op and to my amazement they let me join!!

At the start of the summer holidays I finally sold my house after almost 3 years. It was filmed to be featured on the BBC programme Escape to the Country. I think this pushed my buyer into finally making an offer!! Although the house wasn't used in the end it was fun being part of the filming process.

Although I had been working towards selling the house for so long, when it happened it was a time of sadness and relief mixed with excitement of creating a new life for myself and the Teenager. At the same time I interviewed for a job supply teaching and was successful.

It was a summer of short breaks away, combined with family visits including a wedding. My favourite outfit of the year was this wedding outfit put together for £10!

After a busy summer that included visiting family in Vienna and the isle of Lewis, I finally moved house. A wee ordinary house in a nice area of Stirling. It needs lots of work but it's all mine :-)

The end of the year saw us celebrating my Dad's 70th birthday. We managed to get all 6 grandchildren together for the first time in years. That was pretty special.

And finally to end the year, I'm back teaching full time! I love it but it's very time consuming. I've yet to balance work/home life but I'm working on it.

Monday, 30 December 2013

I've been brave and have dived into the paperwork to work out how much my monthly outgoings are to the penny. I had a rough idea of what they were *insert embarrassed face here* but when I looked at each bill I got a wee shock from some of them.

I'm now paperless for most of them and confess that sometimes I don't look at them online. But yesterday I looked at my December BT bill in detail. I get free evening and weekend calls yet this month I only made 3 free calls. I looked at my statement and discovered that apart from 2 official calls nearly all the other calls were to my MUM!!!! Total cost of calls £23.54! On closer inspection of the fine print I've discovered that my free evening calls are from 7pm to 7am, not 6pm as I had assumed. DOH!!!

I haven't set up a DD for electricity and gas yet but I will at the end of March after the next quarterly bill. I'm going to send in my meter readings on the first of each month so I get an accurate bill and not an estimate.

I've paid my 2013/2014 council tax bill until April then the new financial year starts and I'll get my next bill. I haven't decided yet whether to pay that monthly or in one lump sum. Depends if I'm working full time and can save my earnings.

I've also just paid my car tax (6 months) and car insurance/breakdown cover. I paid my house insurance in September when I moved in. It's cheaper to pay insurance in one lump sum.

I realise this isn't entertaining reading (LOL!!!) but writing it down reminds me what I need to pay. And hopefully it might jog someone's memory.

Looking at the numbers closely clarifies a lot of things for me. I've decided that while I'm earning from teaching I will save at least 50% of my salary each month. This will ensure I have enough to pay the bills when they come round and can live on the other 50% each month.

I'm still aiming to save that £40k by the time I'm 50 :-)

Edited to add gym membership in August, perhaps a luxury but there are health issues in my family and I have a real fear of becoming overweight and inactive in old age

Sunday, 29 December 2013

I've finally worked out my food and essentials budget for next year. It will be £50 per week. That's for the 2 of us plus 2 dogs and OH popping in and out for some meals. Hopefully I'll be able to trim that down as the year goes on especially when I get my garden growing.

I've done an audit of my cupboards and worked out these are the essentials we use. With a few fresh ingredients bought weekly I can rustle up a variety of meals. I keep a decent supply of frozen veg and other essentials in my freezer and will keep stocking it up with my stickered bargains.

If there's any obvious gaps or suggestions you have please feel free to comment.

Saturday, 28 December 2013

I've decided to stick to my £120 per year clothing budget. I made a few mistakes this year with impulsive buying of fabric but it means I do have lots of fabric to use in 2014. Since I'm back working I'll be focussing more on work clothes. So far I've remembered that teaching infants can be messy (paint, glitter etc on clothes!!) so perhaps dry clean only trousers are more suitable for working with the older kids! I think I have enough running/gym stuff to last the year although I may need new trainers at some point.

A recent visit to my mum (remember she has 2 full wardrobes of clothes!!!) came up with a few goodies to refashion for work. I especially love the blouse with the cats!!

I just love this green jacket although it's a bit big for me. I may need to alter it slightly but look how lovely it looks over my bargain Laura Ashley dress :-)

Then there's this lovely silk blouse, again a bit loose but with a wee bit of tweaking will be perfect for a warmer day.

I still have a lot of clothing to sort out. I MUST get that done before the end of the year so I'm starting fresh.

Tuesday, 24 December 2013

I nearly didn't put up a tree this year but OH and the boys helped clear away some boxes and re arranged the furniture so I could fit one in. I normally have a real one but this one was reduced to £20 in the supermarket (down from £50!!!) so I bought it to take into the classroom. The kids decorated it with their handmade decorations which they then took home.

Since I had it I thought I'd use it (real ones are pretty costly anyway) It's a pre lit one so no faffing about with lights!! It's decorated just with my wee Santa collection. I've been collecting them for over 10 years now, nothing expensive or even tasteful but they make me smile :-)

I had to show you this! This was my gift in a forum swap. It's a handmade wreath with lots of wee balls of yarn and spools of thread. The photo really doesn't do it justice. It came all the way from Denmark and I just love it!

Sunday, 22 December 2013

Last year I set myself a Christmas Meal Challenge where I bought and cooked a Christmas day dinner from scratch for free (except for the turkey which was a gift) by only using my points from the supermarket I use most frequently. I wanted to try it again. Last year I had £52 worth of points, this year I had £42.07. That's a tenner less.

I did the big shop today and spent £42.24 so was 17p over budget!!! BUT some of the food will be used in other meals. The potatoes will last all week, the soup will do Boxing Day as well and the turkey will no doubt provide many meals.

Black cherry trifle or Christmas pudding with custard or cherries in Greek yoghurt

Since only 2 of us like pudding (and they're not cheap to make!!) I've cheated by buying 2 individual ones that re heat in the microwave.

The nitty gritty:

2 bottles of Schloer (BOGOF) £2.25

1 bottle Appletiser £1.49

2 packs frozen cherries £4.40

3.5kg potatoes £3.50

Cranberry sauce £1.15

Pork sausagemeat (frozen) £1.00

Greek yoghurt £2.50

2 x double cream £3.40

Chipolatas £2.30

Streaky bacon £3.00

Fresh custard £1.50

2 Christmas puddings £3.00

Coriander pot £1.25

Black grapes £2.50

Melon £2.00

Oranges £1.00

2 kg carrots £2.00

12 crackers £4.00

There will be 5 adults, 1 teen and 1 pre teen. My menu is simpler than last year so maybe that's why I've spent less on it. But on the whole I'm pretty pleased with it. I was given a present of a bottle of Prosecco by a child in my class and the turkey is a gift from OH's butcher friend so not paying for wine or turkey makes this challenge doable for us. If I still wanted a bird for the main meal I would follow A girl called Jack's example and buy a large chicken. I just wouldn't pay the money for a turkey.

Wednesday, 18 December 2013

I had to pop into the supermarket for my eldest DS and had fruit n veg on my list for myself. I never go in with a clear idea of what I what want as I like to see what they've got on offer. I know this can be dangerous if you're on a tight budget cos all the advice says make a list and stick to it but I've worked out how they mark stuff down in my local Sainsbury's. If it's a cold miserable night they start stickying stuff around 6pm. If it's nice they wait till about 8pm.

It's a wet cold miserable night tonight so I got some great bargains;. But I'm especially pleased with my 5p bag of apple slices and grapes!!!

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

I've been mulling things over for a few days reflecting on the comments on my previous post. I might be working full time, I might need to change my 'ideal lifestyle' to suit my current circumstances but I'm happy with the way things are working out right now. I hadn't realised that financial independence and security were so important to me. But living a non wasteful lifestyle is also important to me so the 2 things CAN and WILL work together.

As I popped into the supermarket tonight on yet another errand to pick up soap powder as I'd totally run out (on Friday it was teabags and before that it was washing up liquid!!) I picked up a reduced curry. Of course I could make a batch of curry sauce and fill my freezer for a fraction of the cost, but right now a reduced ready meal for tonight's tea is ok.

Over the 2 week holiday I'll get myself organised and get this lovely new fridge freezer filled up with nutritious home made 'ready meals' (suspect they may be turkey based as OH has ordered a biggie again!!) I'm rather pleased with this purchase as it was a total bargain and unusually has a bigger freezer than fridge which suits my purpose. It needs to sit overnight then I'll unpack it and switch it on tomorrow. Did I mention it's black??? Lol!

Sunday, 15 December 2013

Thanks to some external school politics and someone's unprofessionalism it looks like I could be in this teaching job for up to a year! Normally teachers on the supply list get allocated to a school for short term supply by HR with longer term cover (like a maternity leave) going to a full interview process by the Head Teacher. Luckily for me the HT seems to like what I'm doing and wants me to stay. Whether I'll be allowed to by HR is another matter.

BUT in the meantime I get paid at my full rate instead of the supply rate which is 2/3 of the full rate.

So I find myself in the position of earning decent money but don't have any time (or energy) to do anything with it. A few months of teaching will be enough to fit a whole new kitchen or upgrade my ancient car. Or replace the drafty front window and rotten back door.

I'm finding myself spending more money in the supermarket as I don't have time to cook from scratch (although I did score 4 avocados for 80p yesterday!!)

I now pay someone to walk my dogs every day.

Yesterday my ancient Dyson blew up. Instead of researching the best price for its replacement I got one that was the quickest delivery (John Lewis next day delivery to my Waitrose) By shopping around I could have saved some money but I didn't have the luxury of time. And with 2 dogs I really need to hoover daily!!

So it was a bit of an aha! moment for me.

Being cash rich/time poor is the opposite of the real me but I need a steady income. The aim of this blog was to save £40k in 4 years. So I'm giving myself a period of adjustment and will use the Christmas holidays to get myself organised in the ways of frugal living again. I've ordered a new fridge freezer ( I did the research on that weeks ago so it's a good deal!!) so hope to get it filled over the holidays.

I must admit I'm loving being back teaching. It's hard work during the day plus I'm bringing home work every night. I'm sure this will settle down once I get things organised but there's only one week left of term. And it's a lovely one with Nativity performances, church service and party.

Life throws stuff at you. It's how you deal with it that's important. 3 years ago I would never have imagined this was how my life would be. But I wouldn't change a thing :-)